Alpo Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 I have a truck with a dead battery. I have pulled the battery out of the truck and it is sitting on the ground by my front door. I read the instructions that came with my battery charger. They said that if I was charging the battery in the vehicle, I should put the red clip on the positive terminal and the black clip should be grounded somewhere on the truck body. They had another section about how to charge if it was not in the vehicle. For this one it said that I needed to get a battery cable at least 24 inches long, and attach that to the negative terminal. Then I should put the red clip on the positive terminal and the black clip goes on the far end of that battery cable, so that the negative connection would be at least 24 inches away from the battery proper. I guess I understand the reasoning. If you have both the positive and the negative clamps on the battery, then there is a possibility of a spark while disconnecting, and the gases from the charging battery could be ignited. BOOM!! But is that really needed or is it just something the lawyers came up with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 I'm a lawyer but know nothing of car battery law; this is a narrow specialty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozark Huckleberry Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Have dealt with batteries for a few decades. Yes, they can explode. No, the average user cannot always predict when or why. Have had one battery explode on me, but it was in a riding lawn mower when I tried to crank it. The precautions (charging, jumping) are written for two reasons -- one is to prevent injury, the other is to prevent litigation. Others here are welcome to take a different view, but I wouldn't give any advice about charging or jumping a battery for the same reason I would never hand out ammunition I've reloaded -- injury might come through no fault of the advice or ammunition, but in a lawsuit that sometimes doesn't matter, and the pard isn't necessarily the one suing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Original Lumpy Gritz Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Disconnect both battery terminals and attact the charger clips to the battery. Your off-gassing is from wet cell batteries. AGM batteries don't have that issue. OLG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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